


The Elves and the Brew-Maker

by ChrisCalledMeSweetie



Series: Children's Classics with a Johnlock Twist [27]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Magic, Matchmaking, Mrs. Hudson Ships It, Ugly Christmas Apparel Challenge, love potion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 12:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16787260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisCalledMeSweetie/pseuds/ChrisCalledMeSweetie
Summary: Mrs. Hudson is determined to bring Sherlock and John together - with a little help from some ugly Christmas jumpers and a wee bit of magic.





	The Elves and the Brew-Maker

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crazycatt71](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazycatt71/gifts), [PatPrecieux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatPrecieux/gifts), [DaisyFairy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyFairy/gifts).



Once upon a time, there was an old brew-maker by the name of Mrs. Hudson. She had inherited a leather-bound book of potions from her great-great-grandmother, and she used the recipes it contained to brew up herbal soothers, tonics, and elixirs. However, she always steered clear of the Appendix at the back of the book, where gilt-edged pages provided instructions for special brews which could only be completed with the help of elfin magic.

Now, it came to pass that Mrs. Hudson, after living alone for many years, opened her home to a young man named Sherlock, to whom she owed a great debt of gratitude. She invited him to live upstairs, and he, in turn, invited another young man, named John. Mrs. Hudson was delighted by this, as she wanted above all for Sherlock to be happy, and she could see at once that John would be his perfect match.

At first, everything seemed to be going well. The two young men brightened up Mrs. Hudson’s life — even if they did sometimes create more of a racket and a mess than she had bargained for. Watching them become friends brought her great joy.

However, after Sherlock and John had been living together for nearly a year, Mrs. Hudson began to despair of their ever realising they were meant to be more than friends. She tried everything she could think of — from dropping subtle hints to hanging early mistletoe in their doorway to shutting off the heat to their flat so they’d be forced to huddle together for warmth — but nothing worked. 

At last, Mrs. Hudson decided to resort to desperate measures. She opened her potion book to the Appendix and began to read. 

_Ah-ha!_ A Philtre of Love! Just what she needed.

Mrs. Hudson carefully followed the recipe to brew up the potion. Then, reading a spell aloud from the book, she summoned an elf to imbue it with magic.

The elf who arrived with a _pop_ in her sitting room was not best pleased to have been summoned.

“Why have you interrupted my supper?” he demanded in a high, nasal voice.

“I beg your pardon,” Mrs. Hudson answered, “but would you be so kind as to lend your magic to this love potion?”

The elf scowled at her. “What will you give me in return?”

“I could knit you a jumper,” Mrs. Hudson offered, noticing that the elf was shivering in the chilly December evening.

“Very well,” said the elf. “I will return tomorrow at midnight, and if the jumper pleases me, I will use my magic upon your potion.”

Before Mrs. Hudson could thank him, he had disappeared with another _pop_. 

Mrs. Hudson sat down and got right to work. By the following evening, she had finished knitting a little red jumper with a bright green Christmas tree on the front. She left it next to the love potion on the hearth and took herself wearily off to bed.

In the morning, the jumper was gone, and the potion had a faint golden glow about it.

Mrs. Hudson divided the potion between two glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice, placed them on a tray with some homemade scones, and went upstairs. No one replied to her call of _“Yoo-hoo — boys,”_ so she left the tray on the kitchen table and tiptoed away, assuming that Sherlock and John must still be asleep.

An hour later, there was a tap at her door. Mrs. Hudson opened it to find John, looking rather sheepish.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any more of those delicious scones, or any more orange juice, would you, Mrs. Hudson?” he asked. “I’m afraid I finished off the whole tray by myself, and now I’m feeling dreadfully guilty about not leaving anything for Sherlock. He’s such a special person — he really deserves a special breakfast when he wakes up.”

_Oh no!_ John had consumed the entire potion! It was evidently working already, or he wouldn’t be here, nattering on about how special Sherlock was. 

Mrs. Hudson squeezed some more orange juice and handed the glass to John, along with a couple of scones. “You take these up to Sherlock, dear. And make sure to let him know how special you think he is.”

John thanked her and left.

Mrs. Hudson told herself it wouldn’t matter that Sherlock hadn’t consumed any of the love potion. After all, anyone could see he was half in love with John already. 

Anyone but John, as it turned out. And, for someone who styled himself the most observant man in the world, Sherlock was shockingly oblivious to John’s feelings for him. Clearly, these two needed more of a push.

Mrs. Hudson once again read out the summoning spell from her book. This time, two elves appeared. One of them was wearing the jumper she had knitted.

“Oh, I see you’ve brought a friend with you,” Mrs. Hudson said, smiling.

“This is my _boyfriend,_ ” the elf corrected her. “And if you want more help, you’re going to have to knit him a jumper, too.”

“All right,” Mrs. Hudson agreed. “Come back tomorrow night. I’ll leave the jumper and the love potion out on the hearth.”

Once again, Mrs. Hudson brewed the Philtre of Love. Once again, she knitted a little red jumper with a Christmas tree on the front. And once again, she woke up the following day to find the jumper gone and the potion glowing.

This time, Mrs. Hudson wasn’t taking any chances. She added the entire potion to one glass of juice, figuring it wouldn’t do Sherlock any harm to have a double dose, since John had consumed a double dose the last time. Then she waited until she heard both young men moving around upstairs before going up with her tray and making sure the potion reached its intended target.

Once Sherlock and John were each sipping from the proper (bewitched and un-bewitched) glasses, Mrs. Hudson excused herself and went downstairs to await the happy results.

She waited in vain.

Her goal from the start had been to help Sherlock experience the love and joy she knew a relationship with John would bring him. Instead, Sherlock seemed miserable — and so did John. 

Sherlock spent half his time gazing at John with heartsick puppy-dog eyes when he thought no one was watching, and the other half of his time putting on a brave face that fooled no one but John. John, meanwhile, was doing the exact same thing with Sherlock. And neither of them could see it! Mrs. Hudson found it maddening!

In desperation, she summoned the elves once more. She explained the situation, and demanded to know what had gone wrong.

The elves exchanged a guilty look. “We assumed from the pine trees you knitted into our jumpers you wanted them to _pine_ for each other.” 

Mrs. Hudson let out an exasperated sigh. “Those were Christmas trees! I didn’t need a love potion to make them pine for each other — they’ve been doing that on their own since the day they met. You have to help me fix this!” 

“There is one thing you could try,” said the first elf. “But it will take a lot of work on your part.”

“I’m willing to do anything.”

“If you want these young men to have the special sort of relationship I have with my boyfriend, you’ll have to knit them matching jumpers.”

“With Christmas trees on them, like I made for you?”

“No,” said the second elf. “You have to knit images of _us_ , one on each jumper.”

“Are you sure?” asked Mrs. Hudson dubiously.

“Yes,” the first elf assured her. “Give us a call when you’re done.”

With that, the elves vanished.

Now, these creatures bore less resemblance to Tolkien’s fair folk than to Rowling’s house elves. Not to put too fine a point on it, they were hideously ugly. Still, Mrs. Hudson would do anything to get Sherlock and John together, so she set to work, knitting two jumpers, each featuring one of the elves.

It took her a fortnight — working her fingers to the bone and pausing only to eat and sleep — but finally, on Christmas Eve, the jumpers were ready. Mrs. Hudson summoned the elves for what she hoped would be the last time.

“Oooh, don’t you look handsome,” the first elf cooed, admiring the jumper with the image of his boyfriend on it.

“You don’t look half-bad yourself,” the second elf replied.

_Love really is blind,_ Mrs. Hudson thought to herself as she looked at her handiwork. The jumpers were the ugliest things she had ever made — or seen, for that matter.

“Now what?” she asked.

“Do you have any gift tags?” asked the first elf.

Mrs. Hudson produced two gift tags, and handed one to each elf. The elves magically duplicated Sherlock’s and John’s handwriting, so that the tags read:

To: _Sherlock_  
From: _John_  
_Please wear this for me._

To: _John_  
From: _Sherlock_  
_Please wear this for me_.

“We’ll deliver these at midnight,” the second elf said. “And by noon tomorrow, you’ll have the results you’ve been wanting.”

Mrs. Hudson thanked the elves and went to bed, where visions of Sherlock and John living happily ever after danced through her dreams. She was so worn out from all the knitting she’d been doing that she slept straight through until the following afternoon. She might have slept even longer had not a sound from upstairs awakened her.

It took Mrs. Hudson a moment to realise what she was hearing, but once she did, a huge smile broke out on her face. _Success!_

After waiting for the flat upstairs to go quiet, then for the sound of the shower turning on and off, and then for an extra twenty minutes, just to be safe, Mrs. Hudson went upstairs. There she found Sherlock and John, curled up together asleep on the sofa, wearing their matching ugly Christmas jumpers.

It was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. 

**Author's Note:**

> What's the most beautiful sight I've ever seen? Kudos and comments from YOU. ♥


End file.
